


You Can Call Me Hopeless, Not Romantic

by Remember_to_write



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, No Smut, Probably some angst not even gonna lie, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-09-19 05:12:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9420185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remember_to_write/pseuds/Remember_to_write
Summary: This is going to be a very very long fic where I insert the reader into the story by rewriting scenes and creating completely new ones. I don't actually know when this will be done of how often I will be working on it, but enjoy what I have got so far <3





	1. Chapter 1

“Keith, would you like to explain why three of my students are not in their dorms?” Y/N asked rubbing her eyes tiredly 

“Sorry, Y/N, they just showed up when I was saving Shiro” Keith said as he helped support the mostly unconscious man. He and Lance dragged Shiro’s limp figure onto the lonely desert hut.  

“Shiro? The pilot from the Kerberos mission?” asked Y/N 

“Yes, don’t ask us how he is alive and here, all we know is he crashed an alien vessel near the Garrison” Keith answered as he and Lance deposited Shiro onto the couch. 

“Which brings us back to why my students are here.” Y/N said as she turned, hands on her hips, to look at the trio “Would any of you like to explain?”  

With that inquiry, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance all began to speak at once. 

“Stop,” Y/N said, raising her hand “Hunk, you go first.” 

“Why does Hunk get to go first?” Lance whined 

“Ssh, now, Hunk, what happened?” Y/N said patiently 

“Well, this all started when Lance wanted to sneak out of the Garrison-“ Hunk began 

“That is sooooo not what happened” Lance interjected 

“Lance, you are not allowed to interrupt. This is why Hunk went first. Please continue.” Y/N said 

“Right, so we went to the dorm to get Pidge, but he was already sneaking out!” 

“Hey!” Pidge cried 

“So we followed him to the roof,” Hunk continued without hesitation “and he had this really cool setup and he said he was listening to ‘alien radio chatter’. Then the alarms started going off and that ship crashed. Pidge and Lance decided we needed to get closer and I couldn’t let them go alone so I went with them and then we were spying on the troops when Keith made explosions and we went inside and there was Shiro. After that we went through this crazy chase and Keith almost killed us by driving off a cliff and then we arrived here and then you showed up and I started telling this story and I think that covers it, please don’t be mad with us.” Hunk finished hurriedly. 

“Pidge, Lance, does this sound about right to you two” Y/N turned and asked in a firm voice 

“Yes, ma’am” they answered in unison 

“Alright, then. Now, we need to go back to the Garrison before you three get into even more trouble than you are already in.” Y/N said 

“We can’t go back! Shiro isn’t even awake yet!!!” Lance exclaimed ”And we still haven’t figured out what ‘Voltron’ is and why it is so important and-“  

“What Lance means is, we would very much like to make sure Shiro is alright before we go back if that is okay with you, Miss L/N. If not though we are very much okay with getting back as soon as possible and we plan on never doing anything like this again.” Hunk interjected.  

Y/N looked at the three of them. Lance’s excited face, Hunk’s nervous one, and Pidge. Pidge’s eyes were unfocused, but full of hope and thought. As if a new door had been unlocked and was just waiting to be opened.  

“Fine” Y/N sighed. “We’ll wait until Shiro wakes up, but as soon as we find out what happened we are heading back. No complaints.” 

“All right.” Lance said, fist pumping the air. 

“Don’t make me regret this, McClain” Y/N said tiredly.  


	2. Chapter 2

After Shiro woke up and Keith described his search to the trio, Y/N began to see that it wasn’t a mistake that Pidge, Hunk, and Lance snuck out. Any more than it was a mistake for Y/N to continue to mentor Keith after he left the Garrison.  

Knowing that he would isolate himself, she made sure he couldn’t by making weekly trips to check up on him. He would never admit it to anyone, but he thought of the young woman as his friend and one of the closest things to family he had. Which is why he told her what he was planning on doing that night. Not so she could stop him, but so that she would be there if anything happened.  

Y/N didn’t regret helping him, nor did she regret allowing the trio to stay. What she did, regret, however, was standing a little behind everyone as the ground opened up underneath them. She heard the screams of the group has they all slid down the newly discovered shaft. After a few heart stopping seconds, she heard a distant splash. 

“Is everyone all right?” She called down the hole. 

“Other than being wet, I think we are all fine” a strong masculine voice answered 

Whose voice was that? Oh right, that’s Shiro. In her worry for the teens, she had almost forgotten she wasn’t the only adult there. 

“Well, now that we have that sorted; how are you all going to get back up here?” Y/N called down again 

“We aren’t you are going to want to get down here, we found something sick!” cried and excited voice that could only belong to Lance. 

“And how exactly do you suggest I do that?” 

“Well, there is always the way we came.” That was Keith. Definitely. 

“It isn’t as bad as you think it is going to be.” Hunk offered 

“That’s really reassuring, dear, thank you” Y/N called sarcastically as she sat on the edge of the hole. 

Her ears were met with the sound of distant laughter. 

Y/N took a deep breath and slid down the shaft. Hunk was right, it was actually kind of fun. The fun ended when a pair of strong arms caught her before she hit the water. Looking up, she found murky dark grey eyes looking back at hers. They were clouded with confusion and pain, but something sparked in the foreground. Before she could think about it too much though, she broke the spell by jumping down from his arms. 

“So what is it you found that was important enough for me to come down here?” 


	3. Chapter 3

Y/N braced herself between Shiro and Keith as the Blue Lion zipped through the sky. The lion turned hard, making Keith knock Y/N off balance. Shiro wrapped an arm around her waist before she could fall, but before either of them could react, they were off again this time trying not to keep from falling backward.  

As they zoomed out of Earth's atmosphere, the galra ship came sped to meet them.  

After slightly damaging the galra ship, the lion zipped away from the earth, moving faster than any earth craft had ever achieved. 

Suddenly, a portal opened before their eyes.  

"Where does it go?" Pidge asked in a small voice. 

"I- I don't know." Lance said, suddenly uncertain. "Shiro, you are the senior officer here. What should we do?"  

"Whatever is happening here, the lion knows more than we do. I think we should trust it, but we are a team now. We should decide together." Shiro said, making looking around the cockpit and making eye contact with everyone. When his eyes met Y/N's, she sighed and gave a slight nod.  

"Alright, I guess we are all ditching class tomorrow." Lance joked as he sped the lion into the portal. 

Upon entering the portal, the force was so strong it knocked, Keith, Shiro, and Y/N against the back wall. The three all struggled back into their original positions, standing behind the pilot's seat. As they stood behind the pilots seat regaining their breaths and stability, Hunk's stomach emptied itself on the floor.  

"I'm just surprised it took this long" Pidge observed as Y/N ducked under Shiro's arm to stand on the other side of him and behind Pidge. 

"The lion seems to want to go to this planet. I think- I think its going home." Lance said as the lion zipped forwards. 

As they entered the planet's atmosphere, the gravity and force of the descent cause everyone to crowd around Lance. Y/N's head was close to Pidge's, but it almost rested on Shiro's shoulder, a fact the was trying very hard not to think about.  

As the teens began to argue about their current situation, Y/N distanced herself from Shiro. Her attraction to him seemed misplaced seeing as they had only known each other for a few hours and he had been through so much in the past year.  

She had well and truly lost herself in her thoughts, when Lance ripped one in the cockpit. While it surely broke the tension in her head and between the teenagers, there had to be a better way of ending an argument. 

"But seriously, there's a castle up ahead" Lance smirked 

And with those words, the anxiety that should have been there before, began to creep into Y/N's head. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This bit is extremely short as when I wrote it, I was at the beginning of a very very long writer's block that only broke yesterday.

Walking through the castle, Y/N was able to push some of the anxiety aside by allowing her curiosity to grow. What was this place? What was Voltron? And why were they here?    
Most of her questions were answered when they found Princess Allura and her advisor, Coran. Though Allura didn't explain the entire story, enough information was said to gather the main gist: the Galra has been conquering the Universe for millennia and Voltron was the only thing that could stop them. And Voltron was going to be formed by these four inexperienced teenagers and one mentally scarred young adult. With that thought, some of the anxiety Y/N had managed to push down rose straight back to the surface. These five were going to become defenders of the Universe. The fate of life forms everywhere depended on them. Keith and Lance couldn't even walk down the hallway without starting a fight, how were they going to learn to work together when they are needed most?


	5. Chapter 5

“So…. Paladin of the Red Lion?” Y/N asked as she stood next to Keith. They were at the castle, waiting as Princess Allura tried to locate the aforementioned lion.

“Yeah, I guess. It is kind of a lot to take in.” Keith said quietly. “So… What are you going to do?”

“Me? What do you mean?” Y/N asked

“I know that look that you had on your face when you realized their wasn’t a lion for you. You don’t know what you are doing here or what you are going to do. So what are you thinking about?” Keith probed gently.

“I… I don’t know. I mean, I know some first aid? But I am not a trained mechanic and certainly not on this type of technology. But it is so too late to turn back now and even if I could, I cannot leave you and the others to face this by yourselves.” Y/N sighed and rubbed her eyes. 

“Don’t worry about it too much. You are here and willing to help and we’ll figure something out.” Keith reassured her. 

Y/N looked over the map of the universe Allura was pouring over. “I hope so. For all our sakes.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been a while. . . .

Y/N maintained her faith.

Through the team getting the red lion.

Through their first fight with the galra.

Even when it didn’t look like they would survive, she had faith.

But as she watched the paladins train, her patience began to wane.

She watched as Pidge threw down the headpiece and left the room.

She watched as Shiro moved to follow Pidge out of the room. She made eye contact and shook her head slightly before turning and walking in the direction Pidge went.

She found Pidge in her room, with her knees to her chest and her face downcast. She quietly sat on the bed next to her. She carefully shifted Pidge until she was holding her in her arms. She could feel the tears running down the young girl’s face and the way her breath was coming out in short bursts. She carded her fingers through Pidge’s short hair and rocked her until she had calmed down.

“We are going to find your father and brother, but you need to tell the others, Katie. They are your friends.” Y/N said quietly.

“I know. I just I don’t know how.” Pidge admitted quietly. “Maybe you could do it for me?”

“No, I can’t. You have to trust your team enough to tell them. I will be here for you every step of the way though.” Y/N said, pulling back so wipe the tears from Pidge’s face. “Now. Let’s get you back to training before they assume something horrible has happened.”

Pidge nodded and got up. She walked towards the door before turning and running back to Y/N. She wrapped her arms around the young woman. “Thank you. So much.” She whispered before pulling away and hurrying back to training.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry it has taken me so long to update and even more sorry that this isn't a long chapter. I will try and get something substantial written for this soon, but I am really fucking tired right now so this was the best I could do.

Y/N hoped that the rest of training was a success. She hadn’t had the time to check in because she was busy learning all Allura could teach her about how to fix the various parts of the castle. It wasn’t too terribly hard once she started, but the names for objects was so different from what Y/N was used to that she had a rough start. 

She was so busy working on one project in particular that she almost missed lunch. She hadn’t meant to get lost in working, but it seemed like the more on task she stayed, the more she could get done and taking a lunch break would only disrupt her rhythm.

She tidied herself and her station before heading off to eat whatever Coran had cooked up. However, when she reached the dining room, she was greeted by the sight of green goo everywhere. On the ceiling, the floor, the walls, the paladins, everything, except for maybe the bowls that had once contained the food.

“Do I want to know what happened here?” Y/N asked from the hallway as the paladins laughed at their situation. It would appear as though they were all handcuffed together, but that still didn’t give her all the information she needed to figure out what exactly had occurred.

“Goo fight, Y/N! Allura started it and we finished it.” Lance said excitedly as he waved his still bound hands, making Keith and Hunk’s arms swing wildly.

Y/N just shrugged and watched as the paladins freed themselves and began to clean themselves off. She sighed and did her best to get the goo out of Pidge’s hair before ruffling Keith’s fringe, sending little green blobs all over the place. She made brief eye contact with Shiro and flushed slightly at the affection she found there. She smiled and reached over and combed a hand through his fringe, pulling out a big chunk of slime. She laughed and plunked it into one of the empty bowls.

Shiro had a slight flush as he and the others went to attempt to form Voltron for what must have been the hundredth time today. The difference being that his time, they worked as a team and succeeded. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry it took me so long to update. I run a fanfic blog on tumblr and it tends to push any other writing to the backburner a bit.  
> (the URL for my tumblr is memento-scribet.tumblr.com if you guys wanted to see my writing more than just once a month lol)

Y/N was waiting when the Paladins got back from successfully forming Voltron. They piled onto the couches in the common room.

“Man, that was cool!” Lance cried out. “I’m so charged up, I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep tonight.” Y/N rolled her eyes and smiled. Pidge had taken the spot next to her and the mice had taken the spot between them. 

“Not me.” Keith said. “ My head hits the pillow and I am going to be lights out.”

“I just want you to know that I realized when we were in Voltron,” Hunk said slipping into the spot between Keith and Lance. He wrapped his arms around their shoulders and pulled them both in for a bone-crushing hug. “We’re brothers, man. Like, ya know? We’re totally connected. No secrets. No barriers. No nothing. Brothers. All the way.” Pidge and Y/N exchanged a nervous glance at Hunk’s words. The rest of the crew still didn’t know their secret and it was beginning to weigh heavily on the both of them.

“Oh, except for Y/N. She is like our sister.” Hunk said, shooting a wide sweet smile in her direction. Y/N returned the smile and tousled Pidge’s hair. “I love you guys.” Hunk relaxed his hold on Keith and Lance.

“G-Forces mess with your head a little bit?” Keith asked as he patted Hunk’s shoulder. Shiro got up and started to walk across the room. He made eye contact with Y/N and they both blushed a little bit when they looked away. Y/N sighed a little bit. She had to stop doing that.

“Maybe, a little.  I dunno.” Hunk said as he scratched his head. The others got up to follow Shiro’s lead and go to bed. Y/N and Pidge stayed where they sat as they watched the boys file out. Shiro turned when he got to the door. “You two going to bed?”

“I’m gonna go to bed in a minute. I’ll make sure Pidge goes to bed when I do.” Y/N said. Shiro nodded and walked out of the room. Y/N waited until she could no longer hear footsteps before turning to Pidge. “This secret is getting harder to keep.”

“I know.” Pidge sighed. “I feel bad about it, too. I didn’t mean to keep up this charade this long. I just wanted to get into the Garrison and prove the Kerberos crash wasn’t an accident.”

“I know, but now we are working with a team and that requires you being open with them.” Y/N said gently as she ran her fingers through Pidge’s hair. 

“But what if they get mad that I’ve lied to them this long?” Pidge argued.

“You had a good reason for doing so. They will understand, Katie. These are your friends.” Y/N insisted. “We need to go to bed, but we’ll talk about this more in the morning, okay?” Y/N said as she got up. Pidge nodded and wrapped her arms around Y/N. 

“I don’t know what I would do without you.” Pidge said. She turned and left the room. Y/N sighed and stood there for a minute before following Pidge out of the room. Hopefully they would get this resolved tomorrow and that would be the end of secrets.


	9. Chapter 9

Y/N was sitting on the steps leading up to the cryopods when Pidge came into the infirmary. “Did you have a good practice session?” She asked, looking up from Pidge’s computer.

They had been keeping track of all the information they knew about Zarkon’s empire. Allura and Coran supplied a bit of information, but several millennia had passed since they had fought the galra. 

“Yeah, we fell a couple times, but I think we are getting better.” Pidge said as she sat down next to Y/N. “I haven’t told them yet.”

“I figured not.” Y/N sighed. “The prisoners should be waking up soon. We should make sure we have food and blankets ready for them.” She close the computer and set it down. Just as she moved to check the supplies, the door slid open and Shiro walked in. He took one look at Pidge’s anxious face and a gentle smile found its way to his face.

“You’re as anxious as me.” He said softly.

Pidge stopped tapping her foot and looked up at him. “These aliens we saved know something about my family. They have to.” 

“I hope so.” Shiro said as he sat down next to her. His eyes flitted over to where Y/N stood before focusing back on Pidge.

“They recognized you, didn’t they? They called you champion.” Pidge pointed out. “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know.” Shiro said with a sigh. “I can’t remember very much from that time, but the way those guys looked at me when we freed them… I don’t know if I want to find out.”

They jumped as the crypods began to activate and unfreeze their occupants. Y/N picked up the blankets and walked over to stand beside the first one. “Looks like you won’t have a choice.” She remarked quietly as she helped the alien step out. She made eye contact with Shiro and he saw the sympathy in her eyes. She knew that this wouldn’t be easy for him, having someone else fill in the holes where trauma had erased his memories.

An alarm went off and Pidge checked her laptop. “It is an intruder. Outside the front door of the castle. He looks to be pretty small. I think the others can handle him.” Pidge said as examined the screen of her laptop. Shiro nodded as he helped another of the aliens to sit on the steps. 

“So how long were you held captive by Zarkon?” Pidge asked as she and Y/N helped to hand out warm drinks. Shiro was helping the last of the prisoners find a place on the stairs.

“Some for years. Decades maybe.” The old alien started. “Its hard to tell. Time becomes a blur.” The alien took a long sip of the drink.

“Then you must have been there when my dad and brother arrived.” Pidge said, a gleam of hope appearing in her eyes. “Sam and Matt Holt?”

“I never knew their names.” The alien said, looking over to where Shiro stood. “But I certainly remember the other two earthlings that arrived with Champion.”

“Champion.” Shiro said in confusion. “Why do keep calling me that?”

“You really don’t remember? Unbelievable.” The alien asked in awe. “You were a legendary gladiator. Undefeated in the ring. You defeated an infamous galra gladiator known as Myzax. That was the day you earned the name ‘Champion’.” Shiro’s face remained stoic, but Y/N could see a bit of pain in his eyes, as if a horrible memory was clouding his mind.

“I was there.” The alien continued. “As was the young earthling. We were all prisoners and forced to fight for the entertainment of Zarkon. That day, we were set to fight Myzax, a vile beast many thought could never be defeated. Slaughter awaited us all. This ‘Matt’ was the first of us set to fight, but fate had other plans. You were so thirsty for blood, you injured your fellow earthling.”

Pidge gasped, her eyes growing wide at the revelation. “You attacked my brother? Why?” She cried in anger.

Shiro just gaped in disbelief. “No,” He said in horror. “It can’t be true.”

“I was there.” The alien said quietly. Their tone not judgemental, but also holding no comfort from the harsh reality they had created. “We all were.”

“After my brother was injured, where was he taken?” Pidge turned and asked the alien.

“I know not.” They admitted as they took another sip of the warm drink.

“I don’t believe it.” Shiro said stubbornly. “There’s gotta be more to the story. I couldn’t have hurt my friend.” Y/N could see the pain and denial on his face. The alien’s words had triggered a bit of a memory, she was sure of it, and not one he wanted to have. “Wait,” A look of hope dawned on Shiro’s face. “That ship we were held captive on crash landed on this planet.” Shiro said as he started walking towards the door. “They’ll have logs of prisoners, some information.”

Pidge got up and ran after him. “I’m coming with you!” She cried as they both exited the room, leaving Y/N alone with the aliens. She sighed as she gathered the empty cups.

“You care for him.” The alien who told the story remarked. She looked up and met the eyes of the old alien. It wasn’t a question so much as it was a statement.

“Yes.” She said quietly.

“Despite my gruesome tale, I truly believe Champion is a good man.” The alien said.

“I hope you’re right.” Y/N sighed. With the growing attraction between her and Shiro and the secret she and Pidge carried, her life was becoming even more complicated than it she could have possibly dreamed.


End file.
